Blue Chip Stocks, Uh, I Mean Stamps???
High! Do you remember “trading stamps”? Back in the day, when you bought items at grocery stores, some drugstores, and gas at service stations, you received “stamps” (the size of a small postage stamp), along with your receipt. The number of stamps you got was based on the dollar amount you spent.
At home, you pasted the stamps into paper booklets, and once the booklet was filled, you could “trade” it for merchandise at your nearby trading stamp redemption center.
Sometimes, the item you were trading for didn’t require a full booklet(s), but just part of it, in which case the pages were torn out of the booklet and handed in, leaving you with the other pages for future “purchases.”
There were 2 basic trading stamps: S&H Green Stamps, and Blue Chip Stamps.
I’m mentioning all of this as it relates to some cherished, and still functional, camping stuff my old man and I got in 1971. Altho we collected both the “Green” and the “Blue” stamps, we had more of the Blue stamps (I think they were more prevalent in our area, Costa Mesa/Newport Beach, CA), so we went to the Blue Chip redemption center, and “traded” some of them for the following:
• 2 Sleeping Bags
• 1 Coleman Kerosene Lantern
A month or so later, once we were “on the road,” we traded the last of the stamps for a Coleman 2-Burner Portable Gas Stove (prior to that, I’d been cooking our meals over an open fire).
The sleeping bags DID wear out (no hi-tech fabrics, just heavy cotton canvas outside, cotton flannel inside, and cottony, Kapok-type insulation), but we’ve “recycled” them as “comforters” (unzipped, and opened out like a blanket); and the lantern and the stove STILL work fine!
So I’m wondering -- do you remember the stamps? Did you use the stamps? If so, what things did you “trade” them for? Do you still have those items? If so, are they in good-working order? And since "S&H Green Stamps" has morphed into "Greenpoints," while "Blue Chip Stamps" are still produced (altho I have NO idea which merchants use them now), are you presently using them? Stay High and Peace! Alison
Ecological Footnote/Footprint: How many trees were involved in the making of millions of stamps and booklets???
